


I Don't Need A Math Tutor

by buckybahrns (hop_in_my_moricarty)



Series: lol stupid high school aus b/c i'm indecisive [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, High School AU, Multi, Punk AU, dedicated to reem aka, dick older brother!gabe, gracelesscas, i have a thing for punk!cas ok, nerd!dean, punk!Cas, russian!cas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-24
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2018-01-09 19:44:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1150050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hop_in_my_moricarty/pseuds/buckybahrns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel Novak: son of Russian vocal-coach-turned-seamstress Inessa Novak and douchebag husband Anton Novak, younger brother to Gavrill "Gabe" Novak and Anastasiya "Anna" Novak.</p><p>Dean Winchester: son of kindergarten teacher Mary Winchester (deceased) and husband John Winchester (profession unknown), elder brother to Samuel "Sam" Winchester.</p><p>A story of AP physics, loud music, and 3 AM Denny's runs, but mostly two boys and a school year of chaos and new experiences.</p><p>------<br/>Dedicated to Reem for she is a queen both with her headscarf and without</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Don't Need A Math Tutor

" _Kastiel! Pora v shkolu_! _Vy sobirayetes byt pozdno snova_!" Cas Novak groaned into his pillow, shaking his head futilely on the material. He sat up slowly, rubbing his face sleepily, mindful of the piercings.

" _Cherez minutu, mama_!" Cas' voice was thick with sleep, and like always, his snake bites felt a bit weird as he transitioned from sleeping to wakefulness.

" _Vy ne dolzhny minutu_!" He rolled his eyes at his mother's voice, swinging his legs over the side of his small bed. Gabriel's bed was empty, which meant he either didn't come home the night prior or was already halfway out the door, there were no alternatives with Gabe.

" _Daleye_ , _mama!_ " He shuffled over to his closet, pulling out his softest T-shirt, a pair of torn black jeans (he'd torn them himself, in a fight, he was proud to say), and his old leather jacket. He quickly changed, adding on more deodorant than was possibly necessary, and squinted at himself in the small mirror on the wall. He brushed his floppy hair all back onto one side, admiring the excellent shaving he'd done.

He managed to stumble down the hall into the bathroom to pee and brush his teeth, ignoring the protests from older sister Anna as he shoved her over to get the vanity to himself. She elbowed him back, tossing her bright red hair over one shoulder and leaning forward to be able to see what she was doing.

"You'll look like shit anyway," Cas muttered, getting Anna's elbow digging into his ribs before she returned to struggling to even out her wings. He rolled his blue eyes at his sister, snatching up his own pencil eyeliner and deftly applying it to the bottom lids.

"Eat shit and die," Anna chirped at him, leaning back from the mirror and blinking slowly to admire her handiwork. " _Mama_! _Kastiel skazal mine_ , _chto ya byl urodliv snova_!" She hollered out the door, sticking out her tongue at Cas before he flipped her off.

" _Net_ , _ya etogo be delal_! _Anna snova lzhet_!" Cas tried to right his sister's wrong, but to no avail.

" _Kastiel_ , _lzvinitsya pered Annoy_! _Anna, ne lezhat o svoyem brate_!" They were both being yelled at, and both rolled their eyes, sticking a tongue out at the other sibling. Anna flounced out of the bathroom, tossing her hair again. Cas slammed the door, finally able to use the toilet. He finished his business and washed his hands, stealing a spritz or two of Anna's hairspray out of spite to get his own mop of hair to stay the way he wanted.

He ducked into his shared bedroom to grab his Doc Martens, wallet, and pay-as-you-go phone. He shoved them into his pocket, and sped into the kitchen. He nearly crashed into the giant basket of sewing his mother had placed by the entryway, letting out a surprised "woah!"

" _Kastiel_ , have good day," Momma said, her accent thick and English poor. She beamed up at her son as he promised he would, using his well-practiced Russian and snatching a slice of toast off the plate before kissing his mother on the cheek.

" _Poka_ , _mama_. _Uvidimsya polse shkoly_ ," Cas called, swinging his backpack over his shoulder and nearly slamming the door shut behind him. Anna was waiting impatiently at the end of the hallway, hovering by the staircase, tapping her foot angrily.

"Took you long enough, dick. We're gonna miss the bus if you don't cut this shit out, got it?" Anna was livid, her eyes sharp and dangerous. Castiel scoffed at his sister.

"Whatever, skank. Let's go," Cas huffed, pushing past her to loudly depress the handle of the stairwell door. He shoved it open, taking the steps quickly, two or three at a time. Anna followed right behind, muttering under her breath about useless brothers and their frigging punk tendencies.

Cas made faces, mocking his sister, and threw his whole body into the door at the bottom of the stairwell to open it. He quickly opened the door to the apartment building, slipping through and trying to shut it fast enough that Anna would either get hit or not make it through.

"Dick move, Castiel," Anna hissed as she caught the brunt of the door with her forearm. "And don't give me that innocent shit, I know you." Cas rolled his eyes back at his sister, hitching his backpack up and turning back to walk the right way.

"Don't hate me 'cause you're a lying slut who doesn't know how to keep her legs closed," Cas breathed, mainly to the sidewalk beneath his feet. Anna punched him in the bicep, and her knuckles dug right into the muscle. "What the fuck!" Cas yelled, turning around in a blind rage.

"Talk shit about me one more time, Castiel, I dare you. Next time, it won't be your arm." Anna stormed past him, speeding away towards the bus stop where there were a couple other kids from the "bad" part of town. Anna looked out of place with her red hair, pale skin, pink shirt, and flower-patterned white jeans. Cas meandered over, nursing his bruised arm, scowling at Anna.

"Hey, little man! What wormed its way into your craw today?" A beast of a teen grinned wide at Cas behind dark sunglasses and a healthy amount of stubble.

"Hey Benny," Cas said, managing a small smile up at his friend? Acquaintance. "'S just Anna being a bitch again." Castiel raised his voice so his sister could hear, ignoring the scowl he earned. "N' Dad's been gone for a real long stretch this time. Momma took in a lot of extra sewing to try to cover what he can't, and Gabe's been coming home less and less." Cas didn't say this last part aloud, but he could see the pitying smile on Benny's face, and he wondered if he was psychic.

"Sisters are a special kind of hell." Benny pulled his sunglasses off, wiping the lenses on his sleeve, and Cas saw the black eye he was sporting, but made no mention of it. "But dads are a whole 'nother. My old man thought it'd be a good idea to try to come back after Mama and Lizzie. Too bad I was the only one awake." Benny laughed a little, but it was the kind of laugh that broke your heart. The kind where he was smiling, and pearly whites were exposed to the light, but it never reached his eyes. The kind that showed off his split lip and illuminated the bruise on his left cheek. The kind that Cas had worn every day since the year he turned eleven and his father stopped coming home from work everyday.

Castiel didn’t reach out to Benny, it wasn’t what he did. He just grunted and toyed with his snake bites with his tongue as he looked around, noticing that two boys were dashing to the bus stop, running awkwardly and with backpacks bouncing. He quirked an eyebrow at the two, and shook his head slightly before he turned to look up at Benny.

“Looks like we got ourselves some new kids,” Cas grinned up at Benny, who slid his sunglasses on and chuckled deeply.

"Looks that way, little man." The two teens observed the boys sprinting towards them; one was tall and broad with a slightly too-big brown leather jacket, the other lean and gangly with a mop of hair flopping about as he ran.

Castiel almost choked on laughter when the new kids reached the outskirts of the small crowd of teens, looking even more out of place and lost than Anna. The tall one was wearing thick black glasses that were perched precariously on his nose, some T-shirt with a geeky reference, and baggy jeans over a pair of work boots. The look was comical, almost. String Bean had on a loose, faded purple T-shirt with some dog on it, jeans that stopped an inch short, and black Converse with the canvas torn and fraying and the rubber nearly black with age and dirt and grime. He nervously shoved his own pair of tortoiseshell glasses up his nose, crossing his arms on his chest.

Castiel took all of this in from a distance, smirking beside Benny, who was staring at the boys behind his sunglasses.

"How old?" Benny asked, turning his head to the shorter teen.

"What?"

"The new kids. How old d'ya think they are?" Castiel looked back at the two, obviously brothers, and tried to guess.

"That tall one is... seventeen? Eighteen maybe? A senior. And the little one is a freshman, definitely. Thirteen or fourteen at most." Benny nodded sagely and lifted his sunglasses up to see them more clearly.

"I'd say eighteen on the big one, fifteen on the little one." Cas squinted at the boys, and could see where Benny was coming from. He just shrugged and turned his attention to the slowly approaching bus, hefting his backpack a little higher.

He filed into the line that came together to get on the bus, falling in behind Benny and in front of String Bean and Jacket. He tried to ignore them, but couldn't help but overhear their whispered conversation.

“Dean I don’t want to go to school! This is the fifth one this year!” Cas could tell he had been trying to keep quiet, but his cracking voice made it a bit difficult. Castiel held back the urge to snort at him, remembering back to his high-voiced days and realizing it hadn’t been as bad as his.

“Sammy, you know Dad would keep us in one place if he could,” the teen Cas presumed to be Dean hissed. “But because of his job we can’t stay in one place too long and-”

“I’m gonna be the freak new kid again, Dean!” Cas rolled his eyes, stepping up into the bus as slowly, so so slowly, everyone from his stop tried to get seats.

“Sam, I know. But just try to look at the bright side? Bobby’s here and you can always hide out under his desk if you need to.” Benny was trapped behind Anna and a group of even slower neighborhood kids, which meant Cas had come to a standstill in the aisle. Dean apparently wasn’t paying attention, and collided with Castiel.

He turned his head slightly, shooting the other boy an annoyed sneer. Dean stopped talking to Sam and managed to stammer, “S-sorry, man. I didn’t n-notice that, uh, that everyone had stopped walking and… yeah,” Dean’s voice got progressively quieter as he trailed off, face flaming red in embarrassment.

Castiel grunted in acknowledgement and swung his head back around to stare through the loop on Benny’s backpack at his thick wool jacket, hoping that the other people would move forward some time soon. It seemed ten or fifteen minutes before the other kids had taken their seats, Anna slipping in to share a seat with her current boyfriend Michael, with enough room on the seat for one more, they were so close. Benny trekked to the back of the bus, Castiel dutifully following after, and the taller boy cleared two gangly freshmen out of the seat with a look and dangerous smile. Cas sat next to Benny, backpack thrown on the floor carelessly.

They didn’t talk on the way to school, they never did. Cas glared down at the hole in the seat in front of him, at the sticky gray adhesive that had melted off the silver duct tape that had long since peeled away from it. He sighed quietly and pulled out his beat-up old MP3 and crappy earbuds and plugged them in. He tried to lose himself in the music, but everyone on the bus was being particularly loud that morning.

After a painful half hour bus ride, they were finally at Carver Edlund High, the only school in the county to have a good ninety-five percent of its alumni become teen parents, drug dealers or addicts, gangbangers, and only a measly five percent getting out of and away from Lawrence, Kansas and the toxic school environment.

Castiel was determined to be one of the five percent that got away, and he had potential career opportunities in a multitude of fields. Theatre, painting, writing, music, history, genetics, environmental studies, anything he wanted. He mainly wanted Momma to be proud of him, to have one kid who she could look at and be satisfied with how she raised them. Gabe was working the same job he'd had since he was fourteen, manning the register at Campbell Confectionary, and Anna was working at the new smoothie place by Sunset Hills, if the poor service she gave could be counted as working.

Cas took odd jobs over the summer when he could to help out Momma, and always had a place at the downtown theatre, where he worked on sets, from design meetings to strike, and was on-call as an extra stagehand year-round. But now that he was in his junior year, he had to saddle up and get a proper job. He'd been looking since the start of the semester, and wasn't having much luck. It seemed that everyone in the county was trying to get the same jobs as him, and like the best ones always went to Sunset Hills kids rather than the Riverwood kids. Cas was musing on this fact when he was shoved by someone behind him. He stumbled forward, just barely catching himself on the wall of lockers.

He turned around scowling, and grit his teeth when he saw who it was. "Hello, Fergus. Raphael, Uriel, a pleasure as always," Cas spat, nodding at the two goons wearing matching sports jackets behind a smug looking teen in a fashionably rumpled outfit.

"Hello, Castiel. It seems as though you've gotten into these fine young gentlemen's way, as well as my own. By the way, love the new body mutilators, they're appropriately freakish." Fergus Crowley was from one of the richest families in Lawrence. As long as there had been a Lawrence, there had been a branch of the Crowley family tree living in it. Fergus' family had moved to the small American town after the death of Fergus' grandfather five years prior. Whereas Seamus Crowley was kind and compassionate, Killian's family unit was cruel and uptight.

Cas put on a sickly sweet fake smile. "Why thank you, Fergus! I see that Raphael and Uriel are still too thick to even open their eyes without being told." The two football players made to lunge at Cas, but Crowley held up a halting arm in front of both.

"Tut tut, Castiel. Did your father never teach you how to be a proper gentleman? Oh, wait, it seems I've forgotten something. He'd need to be around to-"

"Watch it, Crowley," Cas hissed, fists clenching at his sides.

"Actually be of any use." Crowley smirked at Castiel, and his henchmen grunted their laughter. "Oh, Castiel, don't look at me like that. It's not _my_ fault that your father's found a better life away from your Russian whore of a-" Crowley didn't get to finish his insult. Cas let out an animalistic yell, going blind with rage as he threw his backpack aside and planted a solid punch right to Crowley's nose. The other teen yelped in pain, clutching his face as blood seeped between his fingers.

Raphael and Uriel both pushed Crowley behind them protectively, Uriel swinging at Cas, though he managed to dodge the punch. Raphael pulled him forward by the lapels of his jacket, and slammed him back into the lockers.

Cas hissed in pain as the back of his head connected with the dial of a locker. Raphael's forearm was across his throat, and he kicked wildly as he struggled to breath. At Raphael's quiet "oof" he knew he had hit something, and the pressure in his neck lessened enough to allow him to squirm out of the bigger boy's grip and gasp for air.

Uriel was waiting for him with a meaty paw slamming into his left cheekbone. Cas' head snapped to the right, and his neck cracked painfully. He quickly shook his head, ignoring the small crowd that had gathered around the fighting teens. He leaned out of the way of Raphael's arm, grabbing it in both of his hands and twisting so that he was behind the quarterback, his shoulder being wrenched painfully. Uriel had snuck up behind Cas while he was distracted, and now punched him in the ribs. Cas gasped in pain, letting go of Raphael's arm long enough for him to turn around.

Uriel hooked his arms around Castiel, pinning the smaller teen's forearms to his sides and keeping his feet off the floor. Raphael rolled his shoulder and grabbed onto Castiel's. He quickly landed three good punches to his stomach, making him heave and curl around the fist involuntarily.

“Hey! Break it up!” Uriel quickly dropped Castiel to the floor, and he stayed there, in a crumpled heap, while he struggled for breath. Raphael managed to land a kick to Cas’ ribs, and he felt a flash of white-hot pain surge through his whole body. “Both of you, office, now! Same for you, Crowley!” Cas could hear a gruff voice yelling at the other boys, and heard the faint rustle of clothing as the other kids parted to let them through.

“You okay, son?” A hand was in front of Castiel’s face, and he limply placed his in the bigger one. He was hefted up, and when he stood he winced in pain.

“‘M fine,” Cas grunted, limping over to his backpack and hissing sharply as he pulled it on.

“Fine my ass, boy. You’re comin’ to the office too,” Cas looked up and saw that his savior was none other than Vice Principal Singer. He groaned quietly, walking stiffly behind Mr. Singer as he was led through the crowded halls. He wiped a trail of blood off of his chin, and rolled his eyes. His left ring had caught on something, or was tugged, and would now have to be looked at by the nurse or Momma, and he’d have to start the care regimen over again for it.

Cas kept his head angled down, ignoring the gentle hand Meg laid on his shoulder as he walked past her while she was on her way to class. He glanced over his shoulder at her, nodded a little, and gave her a weak smile. She frowned back at him, shaking her head the tiniest bit in a way that said, “We’ll talk later.”

When Mr. Singer opened the door of his office, he let Cas go through first, a paternal hand on the middle of his back to usher him forward. He sighed deeply and took a seat in front of the desk. Crowley and the twins were all crammed onto the leather sofa that took up half of one wall, Crowley holding several bloody tissues on his lap, with another one clenched around his nose as it steadily bloomed red. Cas couldn’t help but to feel a surge of pride at that, and the corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

“Alright, boys. Who’d like to tell me why they think you’re all here with me instead of in class?” Mr. Singer folded his hands together on top of his desk, leaning forward and glaring at the teens. “Nobody? Fair enough, I’ll just have to pick someone then. Fergus, how about you?”

Crowley huffed dramatically, and his tissue fluttered pathetically as he shifted to face Mr. Singer. “I don’t know why, Mr. Singer,” Crowley’s voice was nasal and even more grating than usual. “This hoodlum just up and punched me! Raphael and Uriel were just trying to prevent me from suffering further harm!” Mr. Singer shot Crowley a look that was meant to display his complete and utter disbelief of his story. “I swear, Mr. Singer! I was just on my way to class, and I bumped into him, and before I could even apologize I was getting my nose broken!”

“Bullshit, boy. I know for a _fact_ that you’ve enlisted these two chucklefucks as your own personal security or something like that. I'd like to hear your side of the story," Mr. Singer glanced down at the stack of files on his desk that the secretary had brought in while Crowley was whining. "Novak?"

"Yes, sir," Cas nodded politely, voice thick around his slowly swelling lip. "I was walking in the halls, and one of these three shoved me. Then Crowley started getting personal, and I was getting angry, so I hit him. And then Raphael and Uriel just started wailing on me, and I was defending myself."

Mr. Singer didn't say anything. Cas shifted awkwardly, tasting iron on his tongue, and feeling the dull ache in his cheek as the silence in the room grew heavy.

"Well, let's see what an appropriate punishment would be." Mr. Singer flipped open each of their files in turn, murmuring quietly to himself as he skimmed the papers. "Jamesons, athletic probation and detention for a week. Crowley, same amount of detention time. Novak, since this is my first issue with you, you're now our newest student tutor. Congratulations, gentlemen. And if I ever see any of you in my office again, it'll be much more than detention or community service."

The boys nodded silently, and Mr. Singer shooed them out of his office. The office secretary glared at them as she scribbled tardy passes for them, and sneered as she tore them off of the pink pad.

Cas wandered out into the hall, turning towards his locker that he never got to, and sighed a little sadly. It was only Monday and he was already in trouble. Momma was gonna kill him. He folded up his late slip and tucked it into his pocket as he grabbed his stuff for the day.

"Calc is half over, gonna need physics," Cas breathed to himself, packing the according binders and textbooks into his bag. "English after, then break." He didn't try to stuff his notebook into the overfull bag, and just zipped it as best he could and slung it over his shoulder, wincing as it landed hard on a tender spot.

He meandered to calculus, and sheepishly opened the door. Cas slid his late slip across Mr. Henriksen's desk, taking the walk of shame to the empty desk next to Meg in the back.

"How nice of you to join us, Novak. Next time you decide to fight, don't do it before my class." A fraction of the class snickered, and Cas slumped lower in his seat.

"Yes, sir," he mumbled, tapping his pencil on the cover of his notebook distractedly.

"You little shit! You had me worried!" Meg hissed, punching Castiel lightly in the arm. "The hell happened?"

Cas shrugged. "Just Crowley being a dick. Got into a fight with Dumb and Dumber and got assigned to be a student tutor. No big deal," Cas shrugged again, and pretended to take notes on what he'd missed.

"No big deal? What'd Fergus say, Novak?" Meg leaned closer to Cas, dark hair falling over her face. She blew a puff of air and the hair floated away.

"Stuff about my parents. I don't wanna get into now, Meg." Cas stretched his leg out, nearly kicking Bela Talbot in front of him. He nudged her ankle with the toe of his boot, and snickered when she crossed them demurely and cursed under her breath at him.

"Fine. But you're telling me, even if I have to threaten to take you shopping for lingerie again," Meg huffed, folding her tiny arms across her chest and slumping down in her chair.

"Whatever." Cas pulled out his calc binder, flipping to an empty page, and began sketching. He could feel Meg scowling at him, and he scowled down at his paper.

Calculus dragged on forever, but eventually the bell rang and Cas was the first one out of his seat. Meg charged after him, her heels clicking on the cheap linoleum tiles. Cas slowed down to let her catch up, her boots only giving her three extra inches.

“You need to get that lip checked out, Clarence,” Meg said, hitting Cas with her binder playfully. Cas rolled his eyes at her, and nudged her back.

“Yeah, I know. I’m gonna have Momma look at it when I get home." Meg sighed and looked up at him.

"'M worried about you, Cas. You know I love you, man, but you gotta be careful." Cas looked down at Meg, and gave her a half-smile. She didn't smile back. "I'm serious, Cas. We'll talk in English." Meg gave him one last glance before turning into her chemistry class. He nodded at nobody in particular and kept his head down.

He could hear the chatter of the other kids, could hear their whispers. _Got into a fight with Raph. Bashed Crowley's nose in. Shit beat out of him. Gonna be kicked out._ He scoffed to himself and pushed through a circle of freshman girls who shrunk away from him in fear. He nudged the door open with his boot, sighing quietly. He slunk to the back corner of the room, tossing his bag down and sliding into his seat.

"Hey, little man." Cas looked up from doodling on the desk, catching sight of Benny grinning down at him.

"Hey," Cas said, sliding over to make room for Benny. The senior pulled a chair up to the table and swung a leg over it. He shrugged off his backpack and leaned his arms on the back of the chair. Benny laid his head on his arms, staring at Castiel. Sunglasses weren’t allowed in school, so the pair of them looked a mess. Castiel with his split lip and the cut on his cheek, Benny with his puffy black eye and the little cut that went from the inside of his lip to the corner of his mouth.

“You do the homework?” Benny asked. Cas huffed a laugh and stared at Benny.

“Stupid question, man. I always do it.” Benny grinned wide at him again, leaning down to grab his notebook from his backpack.

“You mind?” Benny felt around in his pockets for a pencil, laying it neatly on the margin of his paper when he found it.

“Do I ever?” Cas pulled out the homework from the night prior, and slid it across the table to Benny. He kept an eye out for the Ms. Efst, the strict physics teacher, and glanced down at Benny’s paper to see how far he was. Benny finished copying the last problem and slid the paper back to Cas, and not five seconds later their teacher walked in.

“Good morning class,” she said, red hair in a tight bun and pants suit impeccable as always. She strode to her desk, placing a stack of notebooks and papers on the corner before she turned to the blackboard and began scribbling a problem. Cas snorted lightly as he saw the rudimentary problem, and pulled out his own pencil and began copying it into his notebook.

“Something funny, Mr. Novak? Care to share with the rest of the class?” Ms. Efst stopped at Ash’s table, his homework in hand, and she stared back at Castiel.

“If I must. It’s just that this is a senior level physics course, and you’ve given us a freshman algebra problem to solve. I just think it’s a bit, how should I put this, ridiculous that rather than teaching us how to do physics, you’re having us find how fast a train was going.” Benny and a few others snickered, but the rest of the class stayed silent and stared back at Cas.

“Well then, Mr. Novak, if you’re so sure you know my motives, why don’t you go ahead and solve it? And then you can apologize to our newest student and introduce yourself and him.” Mrs. Efst smirked at her student as he rose, and Cas shot her a simpering smile back.

Cas walked to the front of the room, picking up a stick of chalk in one hand and stepped back to look at the problem. He considered it for a moment before turning to smile at the class.

“Peers and our gracious instructor, allow me to explain how this problem is solved. You see, the lovely Ms. Efst has told us that this train travelled sixty miles between the afternoon hours of two and four. She has then asked us to find out exactly how fast the train was going at three. What one must do,” Cas said, turning back to the board, and writing with his chalk. “Is divide the distance travelled, sixty miles in this case, by the amount of time travelled.”

He carefully wrote on the board, _60 miles/ (4PM-2PM)_ , shooting a grin over his shoulder. “As you can see, the time between four and two is two hours, an easy result.” _= 60 miles/ 2 hours._ “And all we have to do now is divide is like so,” _= 30 mph_. Cas finished off his problem with a flourish, smiling broadly at his class. "A simple problem for an advanced class. Tut tut, Ms. Efst. And the new student of which she spoke, would you be so kind as to stand?" A flash of surprise crossed Castiel's face as a lanky kid stood up, looking around nervously. It was Sam, from the bus stop, and he was now blushing bright red and rubbing his arm anxiously.

"Well then. My name's Castiel Novak, I'm a Scorpio, I enjoy getting into unfair fights and solving elementary physics problems in my senior AP physics class." Cas grinned at Sam, and waved his hand for him to introduce himself.

"Um, I- I'm Sam. Sam Winchester? And I don't think I'll be here long because I'm never in one place very long." Sam was bright red and he sat quickly, staring down at his lap and not looking anywhere else.

"Why thank you, Sam!" Cas gushed, folding his hands under his chin. "Class, why don't we all say hello to Sam!" A light chorus of "hello, Sam" rang out in the room from the bolder students.

"Castiel, that is enough." Ms. Efst was now stood at her desk, glaring at Cas. He bowed slightly at the class, then to his teacher, and flounced back to his seat.

"A joy as always, _moy dorogoy_ ," Cas called from his chair, leaned back so far he couldn't touch the floor with his toes. Ms. Efst sneered at him, and he smiled back sweetly.

"Now that the youngest Novak has gotten all of his energy out, let's continue on with our lesson for today." Cas tuned out then, lost in his own mind. When the bell rang, his train of thought derailed and he packed his books as quickly as possible. He was out the door and halfway to English when he got pushed again. He turned his head, expecting Crowley or one of the Jameson twins, but instead got a muffled "sorry" from Sam as he sped by in the crowded hall.

Cas glared and turned into English, spotting Meg sitting on the windowsill with her bag tossed on a beanbag chair. He navigated himself through the mess of yoga mats, balance balls, and beanbags and hefted Meg's backpack out of the way before collapsing into the lime green fabric.

Meg grunted at him, and didn't bother to look up from her phone. "You're the talk of the school, Clarence. You know how I hate having the limelight stolen."

Cas breathed laughter and relaxed into the chair. "A thousand apologies, my queen. Next time I get into a fight I'll try not to do it in someplace so noticeable so I can get beaten to a pulp quietly."

"Yeah, you'd better. Anyway, did you read act one?" Meg relaxed into the windowsill, her petite frame fitting nicely between the wall and the divider jutting out from between two panes.

"Shit. Was I supposed to?" Cas reached for his bag, rifling around for his battered copy of _Othello_.

"Nah, not until Friday. I just know you're a massive nerd and beat yourself up for anything less than a ninety-seven." Meg grinned down at Cas, and he stuck out his tongue petulantly at her.

"Good morning, malleable young minds," Mr. Shurley called to his students, shuffling around as he usually did, rubbing a hand on his forehead while he waited for the chatter to fade. "I suppose you all think I'm drunk. I'm not, surprisingly, but I am nursing a massive hangover. If we could keep the volume to a comfortable hum, thank you."

English was one of Cas' favorite classes, because he excelled in writing and he always had the best teachers. Chuck Shurley was the junior and senior AP English teacher, and Cas looked forward to having him again next year.

"Looks like a do nothing day for Chuck," Meg said, shuffling on her sill.

She turned out to be right, and for the next hour there was no work done by any of the students, except Castiel because he had a student tutor meeting after school and would be getting home later than usual. He finished his calculus and physics homework, and read acts one and two of _Othello_.

The rest of Cas' day passed with little variation, though a few people congratulated him on breaking Crowley's nose. When 3:30 rolled around, Meg and Cas parted ways and he promised to Skype her when he got home.

He lingered around his locker for the better part of fifteen minutes, opening and shutting his locker before opening it and rifling around mindlessly again in it. He finally sighed and shut his locker loudly before meandering to the library. He hip-checked the door open, shooting a puffy grin at the librarian who raised an eyebrow at him.

"You must be Castiel Novak," a gruff black man called across the library. "I'm Rufus Turner and you will call me Mr. Turner. No 'Big T,' no 'Rufus,' no 'Papa T.' You're late."

"Sorry, Mr. Turner, won't happen again." Cas grinned at the teacher and swung a seat up to a table with few people at it.

"As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted, the student tutor program is where students who excel in certain fields will help fellow students who do not. For instance, Charlie could tutor some poor sap who doesn't know how to use a computer." A redheaded girl near Mr. Turner flushed pink and stared down at her lap at the mention of her name. "You'll be paired up later this afternoon, after I finish up some paperwork."

Cas turned to his tablemate. "Hi. Dean, right?" Cas grinned again and offered his hand to shake. The other boy blushed lightly and tentatively took his hand, only sparing Cas a glance.

"Yeah. Um, sorry about the bus this morning." Dean pulled his hand away, rubbing it on his thigh.

"Nah, no big deal. I'm Cas." He grinned, watching Dean's face carefully.

"Nice name. So, what do you need to be tutored in? I could help you with math if you wanted?" Dean gave Cas a shy smile, and took the shocked look on Cas' face to have been caused by his offer.

Cas bristled and sat up straight in his chair. "I don't need a math tutor, _Dean_ ," Cas hissed, eyes narrowed.

"Then why are you here? Science? English? Foreign language?" Dean asked, expression quizzical.

"Castiel, you're with Adam." Mr. Turner glared at the two boys, and the scrawny freshman shuffled over to the Cas’ table setting his books down nervously and sitting opposite Cas.

“Oh my god, I didn’t- I just thought that,” Dean was stammering, gaping at Cas while his cheeks filled with a deep red blush. “I am so sorry. I just figured that with, you know-”

“That because I’m from Riverwood and my mom’s a Russian immigran that I wouldn’t be able to pass my classes? Or is it because of how I look?” Cas was seething, but chose to attack verbally rather than physically. “By the way, tell _Sammy_ that I really enjoyed seeing his shining smile in AP physics. C’mon, squirt, let’s find somebody who isn’t so judgemental to share a table with while we discuss times.” He pushed his chair back from the table, grabbing his backpack and half of the stack of Adam’s books before storming over to a table where the redhead from earlier ( _Charlie?_ ) was sitting with her partner.

“I really am sorry!” Dean whisper-yelled, looking frantically between where Mr. Turner was assigning tutors and Cas’ back. Cas rolled his eyes and threw himself into a chair, dropping his bag loudly on the floor. He considered flipping Dean the bird, but he saw the distraught look on his face and decided to roll his eyes and turn his whole body away from him.

When everyone was paired up and schedules worked out, Mr. Turner called out, “Dismissed! I expect to see grades improving and bonds being formed!” The group of students and tutors gathered their belongings, filtering out into the high school’s parking lot, the majority of them hopping into parent’s waiting cars, or trekking to the student lot and leaving. Cas was waiting on Gabe to pick him up, and so he lounged on one of the old wooden benches in front of the school, backpack being used as a pillow as he plugged into his MP3 player.

He was halfway through his favorite album when a hesitant finger tapped on his shoulder lightly. He opened his eyes a fraction of an inch, and shut them immediately when he recognized Dean’s face.

“What do you want,” Cas snapped, eyes closed as he tried to lose himself in the music.

“To apologize. And formally introduce myself. I am so, so sorry about what I said earlier. I didn’t realize that you were at such an advanced level. I was being judgemental and rude, and now you probably hate me, but you mentioned my brother and I don’t want you shoving any of your crap about us on him. So, let’s start over.” Dean held out a hand to Cas, who had sat up slowly “Hi, Dean Winchester. And you are?”

“Tired of your shit,” Cas breathed, taking Dean’s hand anyway to help pull himself to standing. It was warm and about the same size as his, though Dean didn’t have the long pianist’s fingers that Cas did. His palm was wider and calloused, where Cas’ were narrow and mostly smooth, and it seemed to linger in his a few seconds too long.

“I’m only tryin’ to be friendly, man. I can tell you’re not really the socializing type. At least, not with people like me.” Dean reluctantly pulled his hand away, shoving both of them into his jean pockets.  He grinned down at his feet and then back up at Cas.

“What do you mean, ‘people like you’? You’re pretty damn normal, if you ask me,” Cas said, picking up his bag and feeling around for the pack of cigarettes he had hidden. He tapped one out, fishing around in his pocket for his lighter as he clutched the cigarette between his lips. “Want one?” Cas offered, holding the slightly crushed box out to Dean.

Dean wrinkled his nose at the box. “No thanks. And what I meant _was_ normal. We’re boring, all the same. Go to school, do well; go to work, do well; do sports, do well; go home, be a good kid. You’re not like the rest of us, man.” Cas snorted around his cigarette, nearly dropping it as he did so. He flicked open his lighter and tried to get it to catch a spark, finally getting it on his fifth try.

“Nah, I’m pretty normal,” Cas said, inhaling the smoke deep into his lungs, feeling the pleasant itch and tickle at the back of his throat. He blew it out in Dean’s direction, grinning, as he continued. “I go to school, I work, and I’m a pretty good kid. Better than my brother and sister, at least.” Dean’s nose wrinkled again, and he waved the smoke away from his face.

"I'd hate to meet them, then," Dean said, smiling back at Cas. Cas laughed a little before the blaring of a car horn sounded and an old, beat-up car sped up to them, stopping harshly next to the teens.

“Cassie! Let’s go!” Gabriel yelled over the ridiculously loud music, leaning over to see his little brother out the window. “Say bye to your boyfriend and get your sorry ass in the car! I’ve got a date!”

“Fuck you, Gabe!” Cas yelled back, dropping his cigarette and grinding it into the cement. “You need a ride?” Cas asked Dean, his voice softer than it had been.

“Uh, sure, I mean if it’s not too much trouble,” Dean stammered, holding his backpack straps awkwardly. Cas grinned and leaned over to sling his bag over his shoulder.

“Gabe! We’re bringing Dean home!”

“Fuck no we’re not! And the hell happened to you?”

“He lives in Riverwood, Gabe, chill. And I punched some dick in the face, okay?” Cas opened the door of Gabe’s ‘69 Dodge Charger, pushing his seat down so Dean could clamber into the back. He tossed his backpack next to Dean, and popped his chair back into place.

“Goddamn kids these days. No respect,” Gabe muttered, flipping through radio stations until he found one he was content with. The ride back was silent but for the music and Gabe grunting in frustration when a commercial break would come up, changing channels like it was his job.

“Thanks for the ride,” Dean said as they pulled into the complex’s parking lot, pushing himself out of the car as Gabe grunted at him from behind the wheel, waiting impatiently for his little brother and his stupid little friend to get a move on.

“Sure thing, kid. Cas, tell Momma I’ll be home late.” Gabe leaned across his car and slammed the passenger door shut, revving his engine before tearing out of the parking lot. Cas and Dean stood still for a moment, watching him drive recklessly onto the road, and Cas sighed.

“So, I guess I’ll see you around, then. Still sorry about before,” Dean said, shuffling awkwardly. Cas turned to him, and grinned wide.

“What happened earlier? I hadn’t even met you until after the student tutor meeting.” Dean smiled nervously back at him, and started walking away towards his end of the complex. Cas watched him go, and pushed open the door of his building. He felt giddy and like his whole body was filled with electric butterflies. He shook his head, beaming down at his feet, and jogged to the stairwell, taking them two at a time.


End file.
